Dual boot vista 32 and 64 on seperate hardrives

[DANiMALxMD]

Hey, I am currently running Vista Home Premium 64 bit. And would like to add Vista 32-bit on a seperate hardrive due to hardware driver issues/support. I kind of have an idea on how to do it, but have some questions. Should I unplugg all other HD's and do it as i just built a new system? Or should i first format the HD, then unplugg, then install 32-bit? Or am i completely wrong. And once i get them onto seperate drives, will a screen come up and ask, or do i have to go into BIOS and mess around? Is there anything I should be aware of? I dont feel like buying another raptor, so i was thinking of going with a Seagate 32mb cache, or a Western digital. Thanks for any help



Asus Maximus Formula, Q9450@3 , 4gb corsair 1066, Vista 64 on Raptor 150. 500 WD storeage.

 

[Zoron]

What specific issues are you having?

 

[notherdude]

I think this method outlined below is the easiest and safest. It is quick to select which drive/OS you want to boot from AND, should you ever take out or lose one of the drives, you will not loose the ability to boot from the other drive/OS since there is no OS boot manager created by windows to lose or corrupt.

1. Take out the Vista 32 drive, which is already installed, correct? Unplug it from the system to be safe.

2. Install vista 64 to new drive. Confirm that it boots the OS and works OK.

3. Now leave the Vista 64 drive in and just put the Vista 32 drive back in.

4. Use ASUS's 'pop-up' boot menu to select which to boot from (explained below)

With both drives in you now have two hard drives with bootable partitions and working Os's. Which will boot up? The BIOS will boot automatically from the drive that is set to be 'first drive' in the drive order in your BIOS setup. You can change this as you please in the BIOS . . BUT, you will not have to do that as there is a much easier way.

You select which OS you want to boot by using the pop-up boot menu that is included with the Asus board. Probably by pressing f8 as you are starting up the PC. If you read the text closely, assuming you have turned off the splash screen, you will see instructions go by as to what to press to bring it up. Do not wait for Windows to begin loading, because then f8 will bring up the option for safe mode etc. Press F8 much earlier, moments after pressing power, hold it down. The pop-up menu will appear and you will see all your hard drives listed. Select which one you want.

 

[RetiredChief]

Yes concur with notherdude (except he already has 64 installed)

I currently have dual boot (Xp / Vista 32 bit) which I did using that method, did it about a year ago and have had no problems. You have to reboot to switch any way and using this method there is no "software" boot manager that can get screwed up.

1st Raid 0 pair is XP partitioned C (System 1) and D (Data1)
2nd Raid 0 pair is vista partitioned C (System 2) and F (Data2)

With both drives installed I set Primary boot to XP, Vista System shows up as E:
When I want to boot to Vista, I just hit F12 while booting. NOW Vista shows up as C
and XP as D. Data 1 gets shifted to E. SOUNDS screwed up, but easy to get use to.

Data 2 and be used as backup for XP, and Data1 can be used as backup for Vista.

 

[DANiMALxMD]

Thanks for the help notherdude. I have 64-bit already in, you got them mixed up, no big deal. I am having hardware issues, not software issues. The company that makes my hardware is realeasing 64-bit drivers in October. No thanks. So im just going to do it on seperate so one is somewhat dedicated. Money isn't an issue for me.

 

[bobbknight]

I kills me almost a year and a half from RTM of Vista and we are still not seeing drivers for current component's.
XP was rough, but not this bad!
Why MS Why?

 

[kkm557]

I haven't actually tested this, but try downloading EasyBCD and running it on the OS of the drive you have set to run first. Add in the other OS to the boot menu if it will let you and see what happens. I haven't done it across two drives, only one so I don't know the outcome.